The Progressive Brand can and may be negatively impacted by the Progressive Roadside assistance program since many consumers do not distinguish between an insurer and their roadside assistance program which is often outsourced.

My car was not starting in my driveway. It’s not started 3 other times. In those instances I got a tow to the local mechanic and after the car was brought down from the tow truck, it started. I theorize something in the towing process lets the car start.

I decided to have the car towed in hopes that once we got to the garage it would start again. If not we’d have something to work with. The garage agreed to the plan.

At 11:30am 3/13/2017 I called Progressive Roadside Assistance for a tow. The Agero representative refused my towing request twice and put in for a jump start service. I refused and requested the tow but it was denied so I accepted the jump start service. When the jump start service came, about an hour and a half later, it didn’t work as I suspected it would not. The jump start service provider said he’d notify dispatch to call for a tow. He stated I should not have to call but if I was not notified of a tow in 20 minutes, to call.

20 minutes passed and I was not notified so I called Progressive Roadside Assistance. There was no notification of a tow request on record so I requested a tow. The tow was requested at 1:30pm and by 2:30pm I was notified Wolf / JD Towing would be here within a 90 minute window.

When the tow did not arrive by 4pm I called Wolf. Wolf stated they were sorry but they were in Brentwood and would be up in 30 minutes. I argued that in rush hour traffic they were looking at 90 minutes – 2 hours. They flatly denied that and said they would be there in 30 minutes. 30 minutes later they stated they were still on the way from Brentwood and I re-iterated they could not possibly be here in 30 minutes. But I waited.

By 6:00pm I called Progressive Roadside Assistance again and their Agero representivie called Wolf and Wolf stated they were on the way and would be here shortly. At 6:20 they were still not here so I called again and they stated they were 1.4 miles away, which is about 5 minutes even in a tow truck. Progressive Roadside Assistance stayed on the phone 17 minutes, called back and were told once again Wolf Towing were 1.4 miles, or 5 minutes away – same position 17 minutes later.

Upon investigation and review of Progressive’s policies one representative stated there was no reason the initial tow should have been denied twice. Had they approved my initial request, rush hour would have been avoided, I’d have had a different position on the queue and the tow would have happened. One agent’s refusal to provide the service I requested TWICE resulted in all this – had he done so I would be further ahead in the queue, avoid rush hour and have my car back running by now.

As it stood, we cancelled the tow after waiting 17 minutes for the tow truck to travel 1.4 miles – which was my neighborhood where there was no traffic. We rescheduled the tow for the next day, which at the time of this writing, has not happened yet. The call ended around 6:40pm central. For almost 20 minutes Agero stayed the phone, having called Wolf at the top of the call and again at the end, being told the same thing, they were 1.4 miles away at both 6:20 and 6:40.

I hold Progressive responsible for the company (Agero) they outsource the roadside assistance to for denying the tow request twice and being forced into the jump start service, I hold that company responsible for contracting to Wolf / JD towing. Just reading their reviews indicates there are many problems that consumers encounter with Wolf / JD, lastly Wolf / JD couldn’t have been in a 5 minute 1.4 mile stretch for 17 minutes. Traffic was clear.

I also told the Progressive Roadside Assistance rep – two of them – that when they got home they’d get to go in their car and drive home. I would have no such experience since their first rep refused my request for a tow. It was that refusal which both reps advised should NEVER have happened – that caused me to be stuck where I was at, and am at, going on midnight. I’ve been stuck for 12 hours at my location and will be stuck a total of 21 hours. Agero said they would notate that Wolf towing gave them ‘the run around’ and kept giving inaccurate times.

Progressive may need to re-evaluate who they outsource their roadside assistance to – using a company that denies a customer’s request without any legitimate cause is an issue. Likewise that company should re-evaluate using Wolf / JD towing. One look at their reviews on Facebook and they may see JD / Wolf Towing may be a poor reflection on their brand as a roadside assistance company. Lastly JD / Wolf Towing may wish to re-evaluate it’s practices, as taking 17 minutes to 1.4 miles in no traffic is a bit of a stretch.

I called Agero at 1:04am to get a recap of my call times. They have 12:01pm, 2:10pm and 6:56pm Central on record but I called several other times. They noted that they would not have a record if the call didn’t result in my record being opened. Agero did not have a contact email to give me to receive a copy of this article.

As a result of this I missed two important jobs.

Update: Excerpt from an email to Agero at 10:05am Central Time: “There will be a follow up as it’s happening all over again this morning. Agero stated they would not use Wolf Towing. I got a call from Progressive Roadside stating help was on the way for 9:30am then Wolf called at 9:30am stating they were half an hour away. It’s now 10am and no Wolf. Agero did not follow through on using another tow service. Agero broke their word. We are on hour 23 of being stuck. I will call Agero from a customer service standpoint but I wanted to give you a heads up that Agero broke their word. ”

Update 11am 3/15/2017: As I was on the phone with Agero / Progressive Roadside Assistance, the tow truck pulled up. The driver himself was great and drove me and the car to the repair location. 23 hours later the car is where it needs to be. The driver also returned my Ipad that I left in his truck. That was a plus. He was excellent however all the service leading up to this was not.

Update: 3/17/2017: Progressive Insurnace Co. has responded to the customer in this complaint. Agero has addressed the issue with this customer. Wolf’s Towing has not returned any comments regarding this case. We will update you further if Wolf’s Towing issues any kind of statement.